Why Are Fashion H&M Waiting To Recycle Old Clothes? What'S The Impact On Fast Fashion Industry Chain?

　　 Uniqlo , H&M , Z Ara The growth rate of fast fashion brands in China is beyond the imagination of many people. In the slightly depressed department stores of domestic big cities, fast fashion and catering have become the magic weapon for businessmen to gather people's flow.

Fast fashion speeds up the frequency of people's clothing updates, but at the same time it is accused of all kinds of "original sin": squeezing the remuneration of garment workers to ensure a low price, which makes consumers blind, and a lot of accumulated clothing is eventually discarded and seriously polluted the environment. In the face of accusations and scandals, many brands are trying to restore consumers' goodwill through environmental protection procedures, workers' salary increase and so on.

In 2013, H&M stores in dozens of countries and regions, including China, were involved in displaying environmental protection and corporate social responsibility.

Two years ago, consumers gradually got used to the green recycling bin beside the cash register, but could the old clothes be able to bring "original sin"? Fast fashion Has the industry chain changed?

　　 China, big market for old clothes recycling

In the autumn of 2014, H&M first launched the "new fashion series", which is mainly based on denim fashion products. The product introduction says that they are derived from cotton which is not used for harmful chemicals and the fibers we have obtained through the recycling of old clothes. This year, H&M launched the series again in China and increased the number of products to 3 times. This is not a common practice for fast fashion brands that keep pace with trends and frequent updates.

You can find this series of products in the children's clothing department near the gate in the H&M store of Oriental Po Tai Plaza. In the fitting rooms and cashiers, you can see the introduction of "fashion freshmen". However, in such a large store, the new fashion series that only occupies a shelf location and has a relatively bleak color is not enough to attract consumers' eyeballs compared with printed T-shirts and shirts.

In 2013, H&M launched the old clothes recycling project in many countries and regions around the world. In August of the same year, the project started in all the stores in China, and consumers could get 15% off coupons if they brought any brands of unused clothing, textiles and so on to stores.

As of September 22, 2015, H&M's old clothes recycling project received a total of 964 tons of old clothes in China, which even exceeded the number of European and American countries such as the United States and Britain, ranking eighth in the dozens of countries and regions that implemented recycling projects.

Such achievements are related to the rapid expansion of H&M in China in recent years.

In August 2013, the old clothes recycling project officially landed in China, covering more than 140 stores in 45 cities in China. Last May, H&M opened in Beijing with 200th stores in China. By the third quarter of 2015, H&M already had nearly 300 stores in China. In addition to the first tier cities, the expanded vision was also invested in two or three tier cities.

The fast fashion brands such as UNIQLO and ZARA have also undergone similar expansion in China. China has become the most important overseas market for these fast fashion brands. A relatively low price can help consumers start a garment without too much consideration. The 1-2 week product renewal cycle also makes consumption behavior more frequent. A quarter of a year, many people's wardrobe will be crowded by different brands of fast fashion clothes, and the quality of these products is often unable to support the next quarter.

Under the background of product flooding, the old clothes recycling project, as a standard for H&M stores, has gained some popularity among consumers. In addition to the banner advertising in the store and the short promotion of the old clothes recycling project landing in China, the public rarely saw H&M's publicity for the project in other channels.

But "smart" Chinese consumers are accustomed to the green recycling bin beside the cash register. From time to time, some people skillfully pack their old clothes to the shop assistants and continue to spend after exchanging coupons.

In addition to the old clothes recycling, H&M also developed a new logo with the international textiles washing and nursing label Association Ginetex in 2013: Clevercare.info, which is placed on the washing label of most H&M products. The purpose of this is to remind consumers that we can reduce the number of laundry, laundry temperature and so on. Make these products more durable.

　 Where have all the clothes gone?

Regardless of brand, type, old and new level, all clothing and textiles can be sent to H&M's recycling bin, which seems to be a good deal for consumers.

Of course, if you don't buy more clothes that you don't need because you have coupons.

Apart from this coupon on hand, many consumers who are involved in old clothes recycling will also care about the whereabouts of these clothes. According to the project on the official website, H&M's old clothes recycling projects all over the world are working with I:CO, a recycling company. I:CO's parent company SOEX is also considered to be the world's largest Swiss group with advanced textile recycling processing plants and process control systems.

H&M stores regularly collect recycled clothing to the designated recycling point, and then send these clothes to the nearest recycling center by I:CO, some of which are SOEX factories, others are local partners. At present, the partner of the recycling company also includes Esprit, C&A, Adler, Puma and other brands.

It is understood that after receiving these clothes, I:CO will manually classify clothing according to the degree of damage, the new and old standards, and so on. The clothes will be divided into re clothing, recycling, recycling and heat energy manufacturing and other types. 400

Re wearing 40%~60%

Clothes can be kept in good condition and will be sold in the secondary market after being sterilized and cleaned. But in China, although the recycling of old clothes is made into raw materials, there is still a lack of relevant regulations in the field of old clothes recycling. In the United States, Japan, Europe, Africa and so on, there are mature second-hand clothes market, so I:CO's second-hand clothes are also traded in these markets.

Reusing 5%~10%

If the clothes are damaged, they will not be worn. They will be reused for other products, such as rag and so on.

Recycle 30%~40%

Materials that are not suitable for clothing reproduction will be decomposed into regenerated fibers and non-woven fabrics. In the process of industrial production, they will be used as carpet, filling materials and insoles.

Heat energy manufacturing 1%~5%

Used for thermal energy manufacturing.

Although 95% of I:CO's recycled clothing can be used in some way. However, these clothes were eventually returned to the raw material of clothing by 0.3%. Take H&M's "fashion freshman" as an example. Although the product of this series is named after "new life", it contains less than 20% of the raw materials.

In fact, due to technical reasons, the use of recycled clothes to make new products temporarily can not save money for companies, but increase costs. Matthias Lottner, a spokesman for I:CO, once said in a media interview that the recycling of textile materials should be more accurately referred to as "downcycling" because each link will reduce the quality of materials and the loss of raw materials is almost impossible to reverse.

In recycling (recycle), clothes are usually decomposed into more basic materials, and the quality is usually reduced. Upcycle is transformed into a more high-quality product through waste products. To upgrade and rebuild, we need to invest more in product cycle technology and new material development research. H&M seems to want to change that.

In China's old clothes recycling project, after comprehensive evaluation of the value of recycled clothing, I:CO will pay the corresponding cost of H&M, and promise to donate 0.02 euros to the United Nations Children's fund every 1 kilograms of clothing recovered.

H&M responsible person of the old clothes recycling project also said that the profits earned by the enterprises from the old clothes recycling project will all be donated to the environmental conscious action foundation (Conscious Foundation) established in 2007 by the H&M, which is devoted to invest in some innovative projects on textile recycling.

The raw materials for these sustainable products are more sustainable cotton, linen, wool, regenerated nylon, polyester fiber, Tencel and so on. The goal of H&M is to ensure that the cotton used in the entire series of products comes from sustainable sources by 2020.

As H&M has repeatedly mentioned in the sustainability report, to achieve close the loop, control resource consumption from the source.

In addition to H&M, UNIQLO, Puma and other brands have carried out recycling of old clothes. Fast fashion, why are they keen on recycling?

In fact, even the giants of fast fashion companies will eventually face the problem of tight production resources and rising costs. The development of recycling and even sustainable raw materials is not only to change the negative image, but also to prepare for the future product materials.